11. Xbox

Manufacturer: Microsoft | Release Year: 2001

The original Xbox brought Microsoft into the console gaming world. And while it didn't have the prettiest design or the greatest library of games, it laid the groundwork for many of today's gaming standards. Xbox gave us two important contributions to gaming: Halo and Xbox Live.

N64 fans will cry foul and suggest that GoldenEye made first-person shooters possible on a console, but it was Halo that modernized the genre. Almost every FPS that came after Halo utilized its control scheme and a modified version of its health system. But where Halo truly succeeded was in providing console gamers with the first-of-its-kind 16-player LAN battles. Halo was the first shooter that made PC gamers jealous and it signaled the beginning of a power shift in the genre.

The second contribution, Xbox Live, proved a testbed for the version that's become so beloved on Xbox 360. Though the SEGA Dreamcast had broadband gameplay, Xbox's Live service was the first that managed to capture a high level of quality among a large number of games. It gave us the first iteration of a Friends List and even had a few Xbox Live Arcade titles. The service kicked off with MechAssault and continues on through Halo 2, a game which is still played online by hundreds of thousands of gamers. With Live, the Xbox showed us the future of console gaming.

The original Xbox helped usher in a new era in videogames. From that point forward, consoles began drawing in PC gamers, while still servicing the core console gamer. While the console itself was not among the ten greatest of all time, its impact will be felt for the next decade.

Our Fondest Memories

"The very first day Microsoft showed up at the IGN offices with the system, I knew it was going to blow people's minds. It was pitch black in the demo room and the title screen of Halo booted... the Gregorian chants commenced, and I got goose bumps. It was that moment I jumped on the bandwagon, and I haven't fallen off since." – Chris Carle, Entertainment Editorial Director, IGN.com

"When I first fired up the Xbox and logged into Xbox Live, I knew that Microsoft was on to something. Prior to that system, console-based online gaming was more or less a supplemental feature, the Xbox was the first to take the concept of online integration and run with it. I've been hooked ever since, if it isn't online-enabled, chances are I'm not playing it." - Scott Lowe, Editor, IGN Gear